Fully managed outsourcing. Top 60 firm chooses ...outsourcing. Approximately a quarter of those had such a bad experience, that they would never outsource again! 42% had never tried

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Call +44 (0) 24 7601 6308 | www.advancetrack.com

Practice Compliance OutsourcingF i n a l a c c o u n t s p r o d u c t i o n • Pe r s o n a l t a x r e t u r n s • C o r p o r a t i o n t a x r e t u r n s H M R C - r e c o g n i s e d i X B R L t a g g i n g s e r v i c e s • Pa y r o l l • C l o u d B o o k k e e p i n g

THINK OUTSOURCING. THINK ADVANCETRACK®NEVER KNOWINGLY BETTEREDFor Quality | For Security | For Service & Reliability

W: www.advancetrack.com @AdvanceTrack

T: advancetrack® on +44 (0) 24 7601 6308

E: [email protected]

The Newsletter for Forward Thinking Professionals • 2017 // Issue 6 • www.advancetrack.com

®

University of Warwick Science Park, Sir Williams Lyons Road, CV4 7EZ, UK

AdvanceTrack® selected in a competitive process as long-term outsourcing partner for this multi-partner multi-office practice.

This Top firm conducted a review of all the major outsourcers. Having completed their due diligence, AdvanceTrack® were selected. Some of their reasons are listed here:

Why was Outsourcing important to the future of the firm?• To provide additional capacity at certain times of the year

• Recruitment in the area is difficult so to reduce the number of new staff required in the future• To provide a more process driven approach to exercises such as accounts production• To offer trainees and staff more interesting and challenging work

• To save money as a result of the above

Why was AdvanceTrack® Chosen?• The fact you were based up the road, in the UK and accessible within an hour or so• The fact that having trained with Rabjohns and then worked for other UK practices you fully understand the type of work that we do and the pressures and issues facing us as a firm• The simplicity of your AdvanceTrack® system• The professional attitude of the staff

To p 6 0 f i rm ch o o s e s A d v a n c e Tra ck ®

This 15 partner regional practice needed to free up time for tax staff.

The major problem the firm had, as with many firms was a peak of work from around September to January. This meant that advisory work suffered delivery delays during this period.

How did AdvanceTrack’s® approach appeal?Experienced UK Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers run the business. The secure AdvanceTrack® system enabled the client to manage the work.

So were the client’s expectations met?The jobs have been coming back this week, we’re really pleased with the quality and find the working papers very useful. Once I import the file back into CCH, all the standing data re-appears...”

On discussing the service with the client manager, they confirmed jobs were approved within 5 minutes of receiving them. The firm sees ongoing value in using this service as the firm has used the service since 2008.

Having completed their due diligence, AdvanceTrack® were selected. With tax returns for c£30 - £35, our teams allow your team to add extra profits and/or drive better client service.

A d v a n c e Tra ck ® s e l e c t e d t o d e l i v e r 6 0 0 t a x re t u rn s t h ro u g h b u s y s e a s o n

To p 6 0 f i rm ch o o s e s A d v a n c e Tra ck ®

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A d v a n c e Tra ck ® s e l e c t e d t o d e l i v e r 6 0 0 t a x re t u rn s

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W h a t d o a c c o u n t a n t s w a n t f ro m o u t s o u rc e rs ?

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Fully managed outsourcing.Not an App in sight!

R UK Headquartered

R ICAEW Member Firm

R Run by UK Qualified Chartered Accountants

R ISO9001:2015 certified for Quality Management

R ISO27001:2013 certified for Information Security

R Secure platform with full job management

R Job tracking as standard since 2006

R Process Driven Mass Customisation

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Zip through your work with #seamlessbookkeeping with the new AdvanceTrack® Cloud Platform.

Fully Managed Seamless Bookkeeping in the Cloud run by Professionals.

Call +44 (0) 24 7601 6308

FIXED PRICE SEAMLESS BOOKKEEPING HAS ARRIVED#seamlessbookkeeping

What do accountants want from

outsourcers?

An anonymous survey was sent out to partners in accountancy practices across the UK. The reason for the survey was to understand how accountancy firms use outsourcing within their practices.

Who responded to the survey? First of all, we try and understand the type of respondent. 74% of respondents were in firms with less than 5 partners, 5% with 6- 10 partners, whilst 21% of respondents were partners in firms with more than 10 partners. This gave an understanding of how many partners there were in the firms. We also asked the respondents to share an indication of revenue.

Very kindly, most respondents were happy to share this. Over half the respondent firms had total revenues under £1m, 21% had revenues between £1m and £5m and 23% of respondent firms have revenues of over £5m.

So how widespread is outsourcing used within the sample?22% of respondent firms use outsourcing currently. A further 15% had tried outsourcing. Approximately a quarter of those had such a bad experience, that they would never outsource again! 42% had never tried outsourcing whilst the remaining 21% may consider outsourcing in the future. We wish we could say that we were surprised that many firms are disappointed in their experience of using outsourcing. Sadly, this is something we hear anecdotes of constantly.

The Outsourcing industry needs to raise the standard for it to become more widely used and become an accepted part of the workings of accountancy practices both here and around the world. Firms were very forthcoming on what they see as essential when considering outsourcing: Data Security and Quality are clearly very important to accountancy firms.

Given the new Data Protection requirements that place additional responsibilities on firms and outsourcers, it was surprising that 15% did not believe that external accreditation was important. Firms need to understand that if there was a data breach; firms would be held responsible if they have been negligent in their due diligence on their choice of outsourcing provider.

AdvanceTrack and their approach to working with accountancy firmsAdvanceTrack® is run by UK Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers. They understand the need to deliver quality services and that Data Security needs to be carefully designed to manage the data effectively, reducing the chances of data breach. As an ICAEW Member Firm, you would expect Quality to be at the heart of the business. However, how do you control that? AdvanceTrack® built a platform over 11 years ago (in early 2006) which allows information to be shared with clients. Some outsourcers in 2017 have yet to introduce such systems and AdvanceTrack® replaced this in 2017 with a new improved AdvanceTrack® platform to help firms deliver more in the cloud in a totally seamless manner. This will be constantly enhanced to ensure it remains relevant in 2017 and beyond.

So how do AdvanceTrack constantly evolve their systems and processes and deliver high quality and keep your client data secure?1. People 2. Systems 3. Quality Management 4. Secure Technology & Protocols

Led by Quality people and implementing robust systems were essential in the early stages of the business. As the business has matured, the company has looked at how to measure performance and improve on the existing robust, scalable processes. This led to certification by BSI, for the latest International Quality and Security certifications, ISO9001:2015 and ISO27001:2013. AdvanceTrack® remain the 1st and only major accountancy outsourcer to have attained these latest International standards. Looking back at the survey results, AdvanceTrack® deliver a secure, scalable, quality solution, with the ability to control work. External accreditation to the latest International standards, mean that they remain at the forefront of the industry and able to deliver consistently high levels of service. We leverage technology to solve business problems using our UK personnel and offshore centres. We’re your partner from idea to implementation.

Shouldn’t you be calling AdvanceTrack®? Don’t delay and call them on +44 (0)24 7601 6308

FIRM SIZE

Under £0.5m£0.5m-£1m£1m-£5m£5m-£10m£10m+

FIRM SIZESole PracTITIONER

2-5 Partners

6-10 Partners

10-25 Partners

26+ Partners

FIRM REVENUES (£m)

Under £0.5m

£0.5m-£1m

£1m-£5m

£5m-£10m

£10m+

42%

36%

38%

5%

7%

14%

14%21%

8%

15%

Sole PracTITIONER

2-5 Partners

6-10 Partners

10-25 Partners

26+ Partners

FIRM REVENUES (£m) Under £0.5m£0.5m-£1m£1m-£5m£5m-£10m£10m+

FIRM SIZESole PracTITIONER

2-5 Partners

6-10 Partners

10-25 Partners

26+ Partners

FIRM REVENUES (£m)

Under £0.5m

£0.5m-£1m

£1m-£5m

£5m-£10m

£10m+

42%

36%

38%

5%

7%

14%

14%21%

8%

15%Under £0.5m

£0.5m-£1m

£1m-£5m

£5m-£10m

£10m+

Use Outsourcing in their PracTIce

Use Outsourcingin their PracTIce

Never Used Outsourcing

Tried but don't currently use outsourcing

currently use outsourcing

Would Consider using Outsourcing in the future

42%

15%

21%

22%

Never Used Outsourcing

Tried but don’t currently use outsourcing

currently use outsourcing

Would Consider using Outsourcing in the future

So what are firms looking for when considering outsourcing?

0 20 40 60 80 100

Data Security

Competence in delivering work

Ability to control work

External accreditation

agree

disagree

"AdvanceTrack® deliver a secure, scalable, quality solution, with the ability to control work.”

Survey about the use of Outsourcing in Accountancy Practices